Seerat Kapoor on B'wood debut: Telugu audience knows I'll never leave them

Telugu star Seerat Kapoor will soon make her Hindi debut in the upcoming film "Maarich". The Mumbai based actress insists joining Hindi films does not mean shifting focus from Tollywood.

Seerat, whose Telugu hits include "Raju Gari Gadhi 2", "Touch Chesi Chudu" and "Columbus", shares screen space with veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah and Tushhar Kapoor in her Bollywood debut.

"I am definitely inclined towards Hindi cinema but I am not leaving my south industry for sure. It's been a really loving journey and I have met so many loving people to work with. I have had such a loving audience who know that I am working in Hindi.

So, when I talk to my fans, they don't say that I am leaving them, they know I won't ever leave them. I know I am going to be back and they are more than happy for me. I am open to all industries as long as I am part of a film that gratifies me and I am looking at working in content driven films for sure," says Seerat.

Having worked with several established Telugu stars including Nagarjuna, Ravi Teja and Samantha Akkineni, Seerat's choice of films down South have worked in her favour so far. While many actors call their first film as the turning point, for Seerat it was her fifth Telugu film, the 2017 release "Okka Kshanam".

"I don't speak to myself in the language that 'I am a star' or 'I have arrived'. When I sit down with myself and reflected on what made me feel strongest in my career, it was shooting for 'Okka Kshanam'.

That film didn't have me in every scene but something about the content, the team that I worked with and also my state of mind during the shoot of the film, helped me perform who I was as a performer.

I started getting a sense of my individuality through that film, because the film gave me that particular feeling (of confidence), I started choosing scripts that were closest to that radar and right after came films like 'Krishna and His leelas' and 'Maa Vintha Gadha Vinuma'," she says.

Grand-daughter of well-known acting guru late Roshan Taneja, Seerat says, "So, I think it was a mental shift and understanding of who I was and aspire to be. Generally it is the first film for artistes but I think 'Run Raja Run' was just God being nice to me. When I saw 'Run Raja Run', I didn't have an emotional reaction to it or wasn't blown away and I saw it as a third person. I wanted to know what people thought of it."

Talking about "Maarich" and how lockdown has again slowed things down, Seerat says, "We are still in progress because we had to control the current scenario a bit. We are just waiting for the government to give us a heads up and then we will see what's next."